A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89
by 8ami
Summary: Wally doesn't have a great family life. All his mother wants is a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. Yet, he's dealing with. However, this night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but can't get in contact with the bird. From there Everything goes down hill. Days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89**  
Chapter One: **One Bad Night**  
Word Count: **3,975**  
Summary:** Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

**Recap: **Nothing to recap, this is the first chapter.

* * *

_October 8__th__  
West Family Home – 8 miles out of the city limits of Blue Valley, Nebraska_

The West family was sitting down for dinner, Mary setting the pot roast on the table while her son carries over the dinner plates. Rudy comes out of his office and joins them. The small family chats idly as they fill their plates.

"How was school, Wallace?" Rudy asks his son who wishes just once that his parents wouldn't call him by his full name. Wally paused between bites answer, "Good, sir."

"Did you get your test results back?" Mary interjects into the normal conversation. "The one in math you took last week."

Wally grins. "Excellent. I got an A. I only missed one, Mom." He was really proud of that. After all he had actually studied for the exam thanks to his friend, Robin, who helped him out.

"Should 'of gotten them all." Rudy's rough voice scolds the redhead. Wally's grin fades. Mary doesn't say anything. She never does.

"Yeah, I guess I should have." Wally agrees with his father because it's easier in the long way when he does. After all these years of living with Rudy, Wally knows how to make it through a dinner without getting hit. Harder than it sounds.

_Ring ring ring_

Rudy excused himself to answer the phone. Shortly after he answers it within the living room, Rudy changes lines and takes the call within his office.

Mary bites her lip. "I wish he'd not take calls during dinner. Just once I wished…" When Mary trails off, Wally prompts her. "Oh, dear, I wasn't saying anything." Mary smiles and Wally lets it go. His mother wasn't right. Not anymore at least. All she ever wanted was a normal family; instead she got Rudy and Wally. They're both nutcases and she knows it making her a bit off most days.

Wally tries to make it easy on her as best he could. Mainly by pretending he was as normal as she wanted him to be. He never used his powers or mentioned anything about them. Superheroes were a forbidden topic and he didn't bring up his teammates and only spoke of his uncle in a familiar sense.

Sometimes Wally thought it helped. Other times he just feels hopeless with her.

Rudy comes back into the room. He slams his fist onto the table. "Rudy!" Mary gasped surprised.

"Shut up." Rudy growls. "How did you do this? How do you mess so much up?" That wasn't towards his wife. That was towards Wally. The redhead dropped his fork peering at his dad in surprised. He had no idea what Rudy was talking about.

Wally didn't get a chance to ask what Rudy was talking about when the older man threw a solid punch. Wally scrambled to keep his balance and grabbed at the table. Unfortunately the table cloth gave away at Wally's weight knocking plates and silverware to the floor. Mary cried out at the broken china.

Rudy moves in to attack again but this time Wally had enough time to see it coming. He escapes without the use of his power and rolls up to his feet. "What the hell is this, dad?" Wally demands.

"You ruin everything!" Rudy swings again. Wally counters and throws a punch himself.

A few years ago, Wally would never have thought of defending himself but after accepting that he simply would never be the son his father wanted Wally was able to move on. Yeah, it was totally better. He went from denial of the abuse to raw anger that he harnessed to finally defend himself.

It helped during fights while in costume. Even more so when Rudy got into one of his fits.

Father and son continued to dance until they ended up in the living room leaving Mary wailing over the mess in the kitchen. Wally blocks another punch and counters with his own jab. Rudy grunts at the connection but doesn't ease up.

They go back and forth for several minutes before either one of them is able to land a hit again. Unfortunately it's Rudy. For an old guy, he has a solid punch. The redhead falls back into the coffee table. Glass shatters and wood splinters. His father starts yelling at him, "You damn failure! How can any one person be such a screw up? Can you do anything right, you little fag?"

Wally has no idea what he's talking about though he admits that might because his head is spinning. Rudy tries to jump on top of his son, fist flying, pinning him but even dazed, even without super speed Wally has quick reflexes and he's able to get his legs in between his father and himself. Due to running, his legs are the strongest part of him and with as much force as he can musters he extends his legs into his father's chest. There is a very audible crack and Rudy cries out.

Taking the chance, Wally pushes himself from the wreckage of the coffee table. He tries to run upstairs to his room but Rudy recovers enough to make a grab at him and soon enough the two are rolling around on the ground throwing legs and arms about.

Some part of Wally registers that Mary is still in the kitchen asking why they had to make such a mess. The rest of him tries to figure out how to get out of this situation. Usually by now his father has backed off or he had made it to his room. This was different though, Rudy had a gleam in his eye and didn't slow down. Wally had seen those eyes on enough criminals by now to now this was not going to end well.

What the hell?! Was his dad really trying to kill him?

An outstretched hand bumps into something hard and solid; Wally grabs it and slams it on his father's head. The man goes slack and Wally rushes to stand dropping the broken off coffee table's leg. Wally doesn't wait to check if his father is alright.

In a one second decision Wally doesn't run up stairs like he would normally do, instead he books it towards the front door. He was done. This was over and hell with it all.

Rudy yells his name and Wally steps on it.

Wally doesn't stop to open the door; instead he barreled right through the large fog glassed pane of glass in the middle of it – what the hell was a few more glass shards hurt? He jumped off the porch. His feet never touched a step.

And he's gone. He doesn't look back. He doesn't need to look to know his dad is on his dad is cursing on the porch and his mother is still cleaning up the broken china. Wally bets she's not even crying.

Wally finally stops running thirty miles from his parent's place in the middle of some farmer's mowed field. The moon was starting to get high and Wally knew he needed to figure out what to do next.

He collapsed to his knees resting as ideas ran through his fast-paced mind.

While calling the authorizes was technically an option it never crossed Wally's mind. Getting the cops involved would bring up a lot of questions and publicity. As a guy living the down low, Wally couldn't have that. Hell, he wouldn't put it past his dad to rat out his hero life as revenge.

He could run to his aunt and uncle's place in Central. Wally had always been welcomed there but the young couple would want answers cause they sure as hell wouldn't write off the black eye and blood. They would get him tell them what had happen and dear god wouldn't they be disappointed in him. Unlike with his own parent's Wally cared what Barry and Iris thought of him. He wanted them to be proud of him.

Plus Barry would be mad. It was hard to rile the blond man but once you did…hell, it made his dad look tame. Barry might do something he'd regret later and all because of Wally. Wally couldn't let that happen. He couldn't tell them. Not now.

Wally looked down at himself, especially not now. He really didn't look good. Along with the black eye he could feel how sore his jaw was, he bet there was a bruise there too. At least there was gonna be one soon. He had scratches along his arm from the front door and he could feel blood trailing his back from the coffee table. Idly he wonders how bad his back looks. Wood pierces the back of his thigh. He takes a minute to plucks out the smaller bits. He can feel the bruises forming on his body. There's no doubt that at least one of his ribs is broken.

Honestly it could have been worse. It _has_ been worse. He's just glad he can still run.

He needs to be patched up.

The mountain? Hell no, Wally thinks, the amount of cameras there and the watch dog, Red Tornado, is always there. The android would totally rat him out to Batman or the Flash. He would think it was best or something like that.

Who was a good nurse that would keep his mouth shut? Who could he convince that it was nothing? Or at least to hold off on telling anyone. Someone that trusted him. Someone he trusted. Wally could only think of one person.

Robin. Wally's best friend.

Sure the kid was smart enough to figure out that the situation wasn't "nothing" but Wally was sure he could convince him that Wally, himself, would do something about it. Hell, maybe he even really would.

Wally headed for Gotham.

It wasn't a long run, but between the fight and the short dinner Wally was exhausted by the time he finally got into Gotham's city limits. However, he didn't stop running until he was in the alley way behind this classic themed diner that was open twenty-four/seven. It had the best milkshakes and whenever Wally came into town, Robin would met the other hero there.

Robin's secret identity, due to his mentor's paranoia, was a secret even to the bird's team and while the others were sure Wally knew his real name in all honesty Wally didn't. It didn't matter. Not to Wally at least. He knew who his friend was – he didn't need a name to know that Robin was the best goddamn person to ever bless this planet.

Alright that might be an exaggeration but not by much. Robin was the type of hero Wally wished he could be and Robin didn't even have any real powers.

Wally starts to search his pocket for his cell phone but curses when he finds it missing along with his wallet. They were still at his house. He had left them beside his bed as he usually did when he got home. He hadn't even thought about grabbing them before he left.

He continued to fish through his pockets but only found a fist full of pocket change. Wally laughed but walked out of the alley way onto the main street. At the street corner a short ways down sits two newspaper booths and an old pay phone. He wondered if it still worked. He hoped so.

Walking over to it he ignored the looks others gave him for his beat up face. No one was going to give him mind, this was Gotham after all.

The pay phone was ancient but it rang when Wally feed it coins and dialed Robin's number. He had memorized the bird's number after his father had broken his first cell phone. He had spent two months pressing in the number at his Uncle's house whenever he wanted to chat to his friend. Even when Robin had supplied him a new cell phone Wally had continued to remember the number just in case.

"Hello?" Robin's voice answers on the other line. There is a hint of hesitation. The young hero didn't recognize the number and he doesn't just hand that information out.

"Rob!" Wally grins into the phone. Maybe his night wasn't a total lost.

"Wally?" Robin sounds relieves for a second. There is a lot of noise in the background. What was that sound? "Look, Wals I'm a little busy."

Wally interrupts him. The call might not last long and he doesn't have enough change to make a second call. "I know but this –"

Robin doesn't let up, "I really can't talk now. As soon as I'm done I'll call you back but this is important. Alright, dude?" Robin asks but he doesn't mean in. "I got to go." And Robin hangs up the phone. Wally knows what was in the background.

A party.

Seriously? Some party was more important than him? What if that phone call had been life or death? He had needed help and his best friend hadn't even heard him out! Why? He hadn't even used his real phone. Hadn't that been a sign that something was wrong? Had Robin seen it and just ignore it like he had ignored Wally himself?

Was he not important enough to even be heard out? Maybe he wasn't. Rudy certainly thought so.

For a second Wally thinks about going back to Rudy and Mary. They knew where he stood apparently. They're probably calmed down by now too and he could use the med kids there.

Wally literally shakes himself of the idea. He was thinking crazy. Robin didn't think that of him. Rudy was wrong. He was never going back to his parent's place. He just needed to calm down.

He was tired, sore and hungry.

Without any money and no way of getting hold of Robin, Wally knows he'll have to leave Gotham. Where to go? Sighing, Wally knows where. His aunt and uncle's place. He should have known he'd end up there eventually. When all else fails Wally knows he got his uncle and aunt beside him. It was the best option really. He'd just live with the repercussions.

Maybe they'd patch him up and let him sleep before they made him answer questions.

Too tired to run, Wally headed for the closest zeta. Trying to cut some time off his route Wally ducked down a few alley ways.

He had almost made it. Just one more block. However, it just wasn't his night.

"Hey, kid." The good for nothing gang member wanna be greeted as he stepped out of the shadows, knife in hand. "Why don't ya hand over all ya moneys."

Wally held up his hands backing up slightly, "Can't. Don't have any." He almost grinned at the irony but stopped when the thug stepped closer to him, knife extended.

_I'll be fine,_ Wally reminds himself as he starts to build up his speed to get himself out of this mess. He has to use it properly or he'll expose himself. He doesn't have a lot of energy right now, anyways, gotta make the best of what he got.

The guy laughs and points at Wally's face, "What? Second time tonight you get mugged?" Wally stays silent. That wasn't funny. "Fine. We'll do this the hard ways." The thug is sure Wally is lying.

Again the mugger steps forward and prepared for the guy's knife thrust Wally's completely surprised by the attack from behind.

Wally collapses to the ground, his speed vanishing as head starts to pound. "What the?" Wally curses as he looks around. Oh joy, the thug has a friend. Probably from the same wanna be gang. And the new guy has a frickin' block of concrete in his hands. What? Was the hardware store out of knives? Wally looks at the block a bit closer.

Is that paint? Wally finds it hard to think and he works hard to concentrate on the discoloring. No, no, that's not paint. That's blood. Oh, that's his blood. When the guy raises the block over his head to bring down again Wally tries to move. He's too groggy, too tired though and the concrete clips him.

Wally passes out hard in that alley way.

He doesn't feel it when thug number one kicks him and together with his partner starts to go through his pockets. They kick him one more time when they don't find anything and move on to trying to find another victim.

_Same Night, October 8__th__  
The Top Floor of Wayne Towers, Gotham City_

Richard "Dick" Greyson shoves his phone back into his suit jacket's pocket after checking the time. Wayne Industries was hosting a party for all of its investors and the company's namesake, Bruce Wayne, and his young ward had to be seen.

The large hall was filled to the brim with investors, big names, CEOs, and _reporters_. Every channel and magazine in Gotham had someone in the hall covering the event and looking for something for their headlines. All eyes were on the hosts of the party.

Dick had spent the majority of the night at Bruce's side answering questions and playing the role of heir but as the night drew longer he was able to escape more and more. At the moment he was standing out on the balcony lost in thought, the music dulling over the city, the air brisk. It was growing late and people were starting to depart making the balcony empty except for Dick and an older couple that stood by the doors.

He was thinking about his friend, Wally. They were growing closer now that they saw each other more and more thanks to Young Justice. Dick knew before the team that he could trust the redhead with his life and had wanted to tell his best friend his real name. The issue wasn't really an issue in their friendship as Wally had quickly stopped pushing for the information when he had decided they knew each other well enough to know him.

Dick grinned at the memory of himself asking Wally why he was so okay with not know who he really was. The redhead was sitting across him at a diner in Gotham that they frequented. Shades covered Dick's blue eyes and his street clothes heavy and big. Wally had smiled and began to quote Shakespeare, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Wally had not been able to stop laughing at the red in Dick's cheeks at that response.

Wally didn't push and maybe he wouldn't care about Dick's real name but he had wanted to tell his best friend it ever since that night in the diner. However, Bruce had forbade it calling Wally immature and spastic. Dick was hoping with the recent increase of missions for the young team lately that Batman would see how reliable Wally really was. Then, maybe Dick would be able to talk his adoptive father into letting Wally in on the secret.

In all honesty, Dick just hoped that Bruce would trust Wally as much as Dick did. The older teen had proven he could keep his own identity and time and time again had even saved Dick's life. Batman just refused saying they couldn't take the risk.

That's what Bruce didn't understand though, Wally wasn't a risk. At least not to Robin and certainly not to Dick.

"Well, well well, I was wondering where you wondered off to." The female voice broke Dick from his thoughts and he turned around to see the reporter for LM Magazine, Miss Rachael Gonzales, strolling towards him in a light pink strapless dress and pearls. Dick figured that outfit worked well in getting the older men to talk. He also figured the press badge clipped to her chest deterred just as much.

"Who me?" Dick faked ignorance as he leaned back against the railing.

"Yes, you." Rachael laughed like he had just told a joke. "Richard Greyson, adoptive heir." Dick rolled his eyes and if she noticed she didn't let on. "I was hoping I could ask you a few questions. You know get your perspective and thoughts on things."

Dick straightened his back. "What type of things, Miss Gonzales?"

"I mean, Richard," She rolled the 'r' in his name, "what do you think of Mr. Wayne's new girlfriend, Jenny Warrick." Dick almost laughed. He thought she was going to ask something…something important. He should have known better. LM Magazine was a gossip pool.

"I don't know Ms. Warrick very well. Bruce and her haven't been dating very long; he doesn't introduce them to me right away in case, you know, it doesn't work out." He answers with a shrug of his shoulders. "I amuse she's a smart woman – head of the firm downtown, isn't she?"

Rachael nods, "Yes, she is. Ms. Warrick is a very talented and powerful woman. Your father and her relationship is a making for a very strong force in the business world. So I was wondering if their dating is due to actually feelings or just business."

"Couldn't tell you." Dick tries to cut the conversation short. He moves away but Rachael follows ignoring the hint. Luckily, Rachael's next question is cut off by Dick's phone going off. "Excuse me." Fishing for his phone he can't help but notice how the reporter doesn't leave earshot.

He doesn't recognize the number but if he doesn't answer it then he'd have to go back to Ms. Gonzales' questioning. "Hello?"

"Rob!" Dick can't hide his surprise.

"Wally?" What did he want? Oh, no this was not good. He couldn't talk to Wally right now – he wasn't Robin at the moment. Dick took a glance at Ms. Gonzales. There was no telling what sort of listening device she had on her or how smart she really was. It was always surprising how clever the reporters could be. "Look, Wals I'm a little busy."

For a second Dick thinks Wally is trying to say something but by then he's already halfway through his sentence. "I really can't talk now. As soon as I'm done I'll call you back but this is important. Alright, dude?" Dick tries to assure his friend. "I got to go." And Dick hangs up the phone.

Rachael steps back up to him, a grin on her face. "So, Mr. Greyson, who's your friend?" Dick tries to ignore her. "Oh come on, tell me something. It's common knowledge you don't hand out your phone number to just anyone. Practically nobody at your school has it – and trust me people have looked into it. So, who's Wally? He must be a good friend to have your number except I don't recall a Wally in your circle of friends."

She knew her stuff. Dick would give her that but that's all he would give her. Dick walked back into the party, hoping to lose her in the crowd.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89**  
Chapter One: **Waking Up**  
Word Count: **1,354**  
Summary:** Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

**Recap: **After receiving a mystery phone call, Rudy goes into a rage attacking his son. Forced to flee, hurt and tired, Wally runs to his friend for aide. In Gotham, Wally tries to get a hold of Robin but the bird can't talk afraid of blowing his cover leaving Wally without help. Deciding that he couldn't go back home Wally heads to his aunt and uncle's place only to be attacked by a couple of thugs on his way to the zeta. **  
**

* * *

_One Week Later, October 15__th__  
Mount Justice, Happy Harbor_

"Where is Kid Mouth at?" Artemis questions as the team stretches for training with Black Canary. "Third time he's missed this week."

It was true; the redhead hadn't been around at all the past week. Usually, even if there wasn't training occurring Wally would stop by, hang out, and eat all the food Megan had made that morning. The kitchen was still fully stocked. It was odd for the mountain to be without the male redhead this long.

Robin grins at the questions, it's clear he's been waiting for someone to ask just that. "Kid got himself in some trouble. Apparently, he's grounded for a while. He must have really messed up, though, cause his parents have cut him off of _everything_ – even hero duty." Robin spills the information he had gathered from listening in on the chat Batman and Flash were having the previous day.

The dark knight had asked the speedster about Kid Flash's absence. Barry had answered saying that Wally's parents had grounded him pretty badly. Up until that point Robin had been slightly worried – he hadn't been able to reach Wally ever since he had called Robin off that random phone last week.

The rest of the team laughs, "I wonder what he did." Zatanna questions as she bends to touch her toes.

When the rest look over to Robin for answers, the bird shrugs. "I don't know. Bats didn't say, and I haven't been able to ask Wally himself." The others nod their understanding.

"Let's not talk too much about our friend while he is not here. I'm sure he will tell us what has happened when he returns." Kaldur, team leader, interrupts with a small smile. "Besides, Black Canary is waiting for us."

Someone groans as they head over to where the blond instructor waits; her foot tapping.

_Same Day, October 15__th__  
St. Dymphna Care Center, Hospital, Gotham _

"Doctor?" A dark haired nurse pokes her head into Dr. Max Harris' office. She knocks on the open door just before she speaks drawing Harris' attention away from his computer. "Your John Doe is awake, sir." She informs him referencing to the young man that had came in a week ago without any sort of identification and unconscious. Upon arrival at the hospital the police had been called along with child services. Both had paid a visit but left without coming up with anything. The police were looking into the mugging but no one had reported the patient missing. Without knowing the redhead's actually age and looking as old as he did the child service left saying if he does wake and end up being underage to call her back.

Harris, bewildered at the patient's new state, stands from his desk. He had not expected the patient to wake up any time soon. Coma patients were never a good betting game. "Really? We need to check him over then." He makes for the door but she stops him there.

"One more thing sir, it appears the kid has some form of amnesia. A nurse was with him when I left to inform you but he doesn't even seem know his own name." Harris nods and they head to the patient's room.

Harris' curiosity surrounding the kid just keeps growing. The young man had came in with no ID or wallet. He had nothing but his clothes on his back and several very serious wounds, while that could have been the result of a mugging like the police suspects Doctor Harris wasn't so convinced. The kid's injuries were too severe for a simple mugging. Domestic abuse, Harris saw enough to know the signs. It had probably gone on for years. The injuries themselves weren't that odd but what was was that by the next morning the majority of the damage was gone. Healed away. With barely any kind of trace that it had been there at all in the first place. Oh and let's not forget the blood work and the extremely fast heartbeat. Harris can't figure out how the kid's organs survive the damage from the redhead's high temperature either even though there is no sign of a fever or infection.

So far, Dr. Harris had kept the majority of the kid's file on lock down. If this kid ended up being special – really special then Harris wanted all the credit for it. Or money depending on how this played out.

The patient was in his own room in the same wing as Harris' office on his orders thus the walk to the room was short leaving the room for small talk unneeded. Harris was glad; he honestly didn't care much about his coworkers, especially the lower ranked ones. The nurse opened the door for the doctor and together they entered the room. Harris stops short in the room. He really was awake.

The redhead was sitting up in bed, a glass of water cupped in both of his hands as he's lost in thought looking out the window to his left. He doesn't notice his two visitors. Dr. Harris coughs breaking the kid's thoughts. He turns to look at them. Bright green eyes studies them.

Harris can't help but feeling like he just got measured up for a fight.

"Hello." The redhead voices a greeting first. His voice is a little dry, and he takes another drink of water to help his throat. "Who are you?" He asks.

"Hi there." Dr Harris returns coming further into the room. He grabs the chart at the foot of the bed and a pen from his breast pocket. "I'm Doctor Harris. I'm the one that's been looking over you. I'm told you don't know who you are. Is that true?"

"Yes, sir." He screws up his face is distaste. "I know some things though…just not the…the important things. I know what a doctor is and what he does but other than you I'm not sure I've ever met one." He sounds frustrated.

"I see." The good doctor makes a few notes, "Short-term amnesia is normal for head injuries sometimes. Especially, since you've been out for a few days. So let's run some test and if in a day or two you still don't remember anything then we'll try to address the problem here. I know the police are looking into who you are so they might come up with something if you don't." He pauses shortly, "Does that sound good to you?"

The kid actually takes time to think it over. "Yeah, yeah I guess so. Sounds good to me – whoever that is." He makes an attempt for that to be a joke but it fails miserably as he falls back into the bed. "Oh!" The patient grabs Harris' attention suddenly. "How long have I been here? And where am I too? What city, I mean."

"Did the other nurse not tell you?" He shakes his head. Harris furrows his brows. Useless. "You were brought in last Thursday, the ninth. It's Wednesday now. October 15th. And you're at St. Dymphna Care Center in Gotham. Do you recall any of that?"

The boy looks away and shakes his head. "No, I don't recognize any of that…it's just I feel like I'm not supposed to be here."

The doctor makes a note. "That's an odd feeling. Can you elaborate? Or remember anything else at all?"

The redhead is silent for a moment and for a second Harris doesn't think he's going to say anything. "Just that…oh, and the name Iris. I think it's a name…that's a flower right?"

"It is." The doctor affirms. "Nothing else?"

"Nothing."

"Alright." Dr. Harris closes the file but keeps it in hands, "Then let's go run some tests."

* * *

**A/N:** I just wanted to thank all of those that reviewed, alerted or favorited this story. I'm really excited about this story and I hope you guys continue to read as it goes along. Just wondering, how many of you were expecting the memory lost? This isn't the last surprise so be ready! XD

Also, I was wondering how many of you guys wanted this to be BirdFlash or not. I'm not entirely sure in which direction I would like to take it so I though I'd get some input from you, the readers. Let me know please and thank you.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89**  
Chapter Three: **Movement in the Wrong Direction**  
Word Count: **2,126**  
Summary:** Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

**Recap: **After running from a fight with his father, Wally's night doesn't get any better. A week later he wakes up in a hospital in Gotham without any memory of who he is or how he got there. Wally's parents are covering for themselves saying that he's grounded and Robin is trying to convince Batman to let Robin tell Wally his secret identity.**  
**

* * *

_October 17__th  
__St. Dymphna Care Center, Hospital, Gotham_

"Still don't remember anything?" Dr. Harris asks as he hooks up his amnesia patient with a new IV – the teen ran through the IVs quicker than water. Usually Harris would have a nurse do the remedial job but Harris doesn't trust them with this patient. The kid was a medical anomaly and a possible goldmine.

The teen shakes his head sharply. "No."

_October 19__th__  
Batcave, Gotham_

Robin crossed his arms. "Are you serious, Bats? Still?"

"I said no, Robin. You cannot tell Kid Flash your identity." Batman restates. "He's reckless."

"Not with me!" Robin defends. "Wally is a good person, Bruce. He'd be careful."

Batman turns away from the computer at his true name. "I am not debating wither or not Kid Flash is a good person or not. That doesn't contribute to the fact that the teen is care_less_."

"Oh come on, you trust him on missions with me." Robin tries to reason but Batman's heard the arguments before.

The dark knight doesn't budge. "No."

_October 20__th  
__St. Dymphna Care Center, Hospital, Gotham_

Harris' jaw goes slack as he takes the bottle of disinfectant from the redhead who looks confused. The kid had been standing on the other side of the room when Harris had dropped the bottle. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get over so here fast." Harris explained. "You where over there."

The young man shrugs. "I…I don't know. I did it without thinking kinda like breathing. Can you not do it?"

_October 20__th__  
West Family Home, Blue Valley, Nebraska_

"What are we going to do, Rudy?" Mary asks fitfully as she sits in the clean kitchen her hands gripping the tea her husband got her. Rudy is sitting across from her. Twenty minutes ago, he returned home from work to find his wife upset, the living room furniture moved about, and scrubbing at the dark stain in the living room. The stain was blood from their no good son when he had fallen into the coffee table. Mary hadn't gotten into the living room to start cleaning until the next day and by then the blood was too dry to remove completely. Mary had panicked and to ease his wife, Rudy had removed the destroyed coffee table and replaced it with a solid piece of wood so that the stain was covered from view.

Apparently, Mary was not as pleased with the effort as Rudy was. He pulled her in the kitchen when he arrived home and spent ten minutes with her crying before her sobs turned into audible words.

"About what, dear?" Rudy asks standing and grabbing a beer from the fridge.

"About Wallace." Mary squeaks. "He can't be grounded forever. What if your sister or Barry comes looking for him?" Of course, Mary wasn't worried about Wally. She was worried about her reputation, her image being ruined by the world seeing how terrible of a parent she really was. She was terrified of being seen as an abnormal family. "We don't even know where he is? What if he contacts one of his friends?"

Rudy huffed, "If he was gonna do that he would have done that by now." Seeing that Mary was on the verge of tears again he changed the topic. "We'll figure something out. Don't worry, sweetheart."

_October 21__th  
__St. Dymphna Care Center, Hospital, Gotham_

"I don't remember anything." The kid growls when Dr. Harris enters his room. Harris had asked the same question every day since the redhead had woken up with the answer never changing. It's clear the situation is starting to get to the patient.

"That's fine." Harris tells him gingerly. "I'm just here to draw some blood." He needs to find what makes the kid different. After yesterday's stunt thought, the good doctor finally has some leads.

_October 23__rd__  
Mount Justice, Happy Harbor_

"Wally still grounded?" Megan asks as she enters the sitting room. The team had gotten together for a movie night. She had made tones of popcorn. Too much without Wally about.

"Yup." Robin answers, a hint of annoyance in his tone. His teammates can't help but notice that the longer he goes without talking to his best friend the more he on edge he seems to get. Megan also notes that something is wedging between Robin and his mentor though Artemis has money on that Megan is seeing things and Robin's just upset his boy toy isn't around. Zatanna chides the blond whenever she refers to Wally as such telling her that she's still upset about her and Wally's breakup months ago. That would always shut up the archer for a while.

Kuldar shakes his head at his friends, turning to Robin. "I am sure that Kid Flash is fine." Robin appreciates the statement but it's clear there is more on his mind than Wally's absence. Maybe Megan was right?

Conner hushes them all as the movie begins to start.

_October 28__th__  
Allen Family Home, Central City, Kansas_

Iris is shaking when she hangs up the phone with her sister-in-law. This was one of many phone calls she feared of getting ever since Barry revealed his other life to her. The conversation had started out fast with Mary asking if Iris' nephew was there or with Barry on some hero business.

Iris had told Mary that she hadn't seen or heard from Wally. He was grounded, Iris reminds Mary with a slight brash tone. Wally's aunt had thought Wally had been punished harshly. She had tried to reason with Rudy to allow Wally to still train but her brother had not budged. Rudy, upset that she was once again putting her nose into his family's business, had canceled on regular Thursday dinner with Barry and Iris. She knows that he'll continue to do so until she apologizes.

However, it's not clear when she'll get around to doing that as Iris had spent that canceled dinner complaining to Barry about her brother. She was not interfering in _his_ family. They were family! It was _their_ family. Her husband defended his brother-in-law reminding Iris that Wally was not their son and that they should respect Wally's parents. At that the reporter had told her husband to shut up and stomped off to their bedroom. She admits she might have had too much wine that night. In the morning, she apologized to her husband and told him that she would try and respect Rudy and Mary's decisions about their son.

On the other side of the line, Mary went on saying her son hadn't come home from school that day. She was worried, especially now that Iris didn't know anything either. Iris told Mary to call a few of Wally's friends and that she would call Barry to get his help. Iris tried to reassure Mary that everything was fine. Everything _was_ fine, Iris told herself after the call ended. Wally was going to be fine. Probably got fed up with being grounded so long and went to visit Robin or Roy.

Quickly, she called her husband at work. "Barry, have you heard from Wally?" Iris asks when Barry answers on the first ring. His answer makes her want to cry.

_October 29__th  
__St. Dymphna Care Center, Hospital, Gotham_

After a week of late nights, Doctor Harris finally isolates the gene that makes his amnesia patient different. The meta-gene. The teen was a metahuman. And Harris had a pretty good idea that he wasn't just some random metahuman. No, the kid was a superhero – probably where all the old and current injuries came from not domestic abuse like he originally thought.

Kid Flash – the redheaded speedster from Central – hadn't been seen in weeks. Even though various heroes have commented that Kid Flash was just on leave for education, Harris was almost positive that statement wasn't true and that he had the hero in his care.

Now if he could only decide what to do with what he knows.

The meta-gene was nothing new while understanding of it was limited. Unfortunately there was no easy fame in the kid's DNA for Doctor Harris - the government would no doubt step in as soon as he published any work concerning the gene. The fast track fame was out for Harris.

The kid had no idea who he was. In his condition he had no chance of surviving in a fight at the moment. Sure maybe being back in Central might jog some memories but that also might not be the case. There was simply no way to tell for sure with amnesia patients. And releasing him back to Central wouldn't provide Max Harris anything but maybe an article in the paper. Not worth it.

Harris didn't want to waste anymore of his time, though. If Kid Flash couldn't bring him fame then he might as well bring Harris some cash.

Doctor Harris made a phone call.

_October 29__th__  
Mount Justice, Happy Harbor_

"Bats, I need to talk to you." Batman turns away from the team of teenagers to see Barry Allen standing in the door way. It doesn't take more than a second for Bruce to tell that it's urgent. The blond looks like he' been running and he's not in costume. That recklessness was unlike him.

"Black Canary will take over." Batman informs the team as he strides to the other man. The team exchange looks, but Black Canary doesn't miss a step and quickly slides in to instruct the team during training. Batman leads Barry away, far enough away so that Conner with his superhearing can't hear them. "What is it, Barry?"

The speedster starts to speak but the words run together so fast that makes Batman think of a roller coaster. Barry stops, takes a breath and tries again. "Wally's missing. I had his parent's file a missing child report this morning. He never came home from school yesterday." Batman instantly understands why the blond looks so panicked.

The teen while a speedster wouldn't run away so had someone kidnapped him? Had Wally been in costume? Did someone figured out Wally's hero identity? Or was the kidnapper after him as Wally? If so why?

Bruce knew Barry was close to his nephew, many in the League mistook them as father and son. Barry would do anything for the teen. The worry he was feeling was probably tearing him up inside. Bruce knew it would if Dick was the one missing like this.

"Any leads?" Batman asks.

"No. None and I already checked with a bunch of the rogues in my gallery." Batman can't help but notice Barry's red knuckles. "They didn't reveal any leads." Barry pauses and Batman can see that he's working up to something.

"I don't think it has anything to do with hero business."

"Why is that?"

"Because according to school records, Wally wasn't even at school yesterday. In fact, he hadn't been in a while. Mary says he leaves every morning for it, though and up until yesterday she had feed him dinner every night. I...I think he must have gotten himself into something."

_October 31__st__ Halloween  
St. Dymphna Care Center, Hospital, Gotham_

The redhead furrows his brows. "What exactly is happening?" He asks confused.

Harris is growing short with him. Behind Dr. Harris is a tall man who Wally has never seen before. The man is wearing sunglasses and a turtleneck even though it wasn't cold in the room. His black slacks almost matched the color of his skin. "As I explained before, your amnesia is extreme and thus I cannot help you any further. That's why I've asked Dr. Raymon King here to accept you into his care. He'll take care of you from now on."

"And I'm leaving?" The teen asks studying Raymon King. The man hadn't said a single word yet. It was starting to become unnerving.

Harris nods, "Yes. Dr. King has his own facility that he'll be taking you to. Now he's brought you some clothes. Why don't you change out of that gown and get on out of here."

Slowly, the patient complies. He dresses in the straight cut jeans, black V-neck, and work boots before following Dr. King out of the hospital.

* * *

**A/N: **Even more lies from Rudy and Mary! Will the team find out what their hiding? Wasn't Dr. Harris oh so kind? And where exactly is this new doctor taking our amnesia patient? Will he be able to remember anything? Find out next time!

So by general demand this fic will not be slash. Honestly it's probably best as I have enough plans for this fic without adding in romance which I'm bad at writing anyways. So yeah this won't be Spitfire, either for reasons stated and because I only like the pairing in the actually show which is a bit odd. If I do add any sort of romance story arch it will include Linda though unlikely.

Anyways thank you guys for the reviews! I really enjoy reading them. I'm so excited. And a couple people asked how often I update and I'm hoping to post up a chapter every two weeks or so. As you can see I do update sooner when I can but due to life I want to make future updates realistic. Um...I think that's it for now...hmm...any questions?


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89**  
Chapter Three: **Research Facility Part 1**  
Word Count: **1,864**  
Summary:** Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

**Recap: **After fleeing from his father, Wally ends up in a fight that lands him in the hospital. His parent's cover by saying he's grounded then that he's missing a week later hoping to throw off the blame. When Wally wakes up he doesn't remember anything and his doctor, Dr. Harris, decided he can make some money off Wally by selling him to Dr. King.**  
**

* * *

_November 2__nd__  
Unknown Location_

The first think Dr. King did when the two got into the black SUV was give the redhead a new name. Well, it wasn't really a name. It was a series of numbers and letters: 74X-2D89. 74X for short. The patient didn't understand. "That's not a real name, and it's certainly not my name."

Dr. King nodded, "That's true, but it is an identification for you. You see, 74X, my associates and I have developed a technique for developing a lost mind such as yours."

74X grew quite as he fought to understand the doctor. Then, "So the name will help me remember?"

"No." The redhead frowned at King's answer, "No, we're going to give you new memories. We're going to help recreate yourself. In reality, amnesia patients hardly ever fully remember their past lives and that can lead to a lot of stress, frustration, and fractured living. So instead of trying to find pieces of the old you, we're going to create a new you. To help create that new you on a _clean _slate we try to remove any possible triggers from your previous life thus a new identification." Raymon explained. "It's highly unlikely that 74X-2D89 will trigger a memory."

"And this will help me?" 74X – the name did make it easier to refer to himself – asks running a hand through his hair. It was getting long, falling past his ears in waves. Harris hadn't let him cut it as the doctor had measured how quickly it grew for his notes. Apparently, it was abnormal.

Raymon King smiled. "Absolutely."

74X fell silent thinking over everything as the car left the dark city. He watched the cityscape turn to country side. Just like the city, the country didn't look familiar. Though it did give 74X the same odd feeling as if he had driven through it before but that didn't seem right. Nothing seemed right. Despite the feeling 74X couldn't tell you a thing about where he was at.

Harris had told him a little about Gotham. It sounded dark and like a hard to live there. None of what Dr. Harris told 74X triggered any memories. 74X wondered if he lived there in the crime city. The police search didn't bring up any leads. Maybe he was visiting?

Visiting what? Visiting who? He felt like it was a who rather than a what…though, honestly, he's not too sure how well he should trust his feelings. They don't make a lot of sense. He thought they would if he remembered things but he didn't. It was like he had points in his head that was connected by lines the only problem was that he didn't know anything about the actually points, just the lines.

It was frustrating. More than that! It was painful. The answers were supposedly there in his head but he couldn't get to them. How many hours did he search his head only to come up with a headache. He had spent a lot of his time in Harris' care struggling for answers that never came.

Harris had said the longer it took to recover the memories the harder it would be to recover them at all. The longer he struggled means the more fractured his memories will be _if_ he ever did recover them.

One night under Harri's care, he couldn't sleep. He stayed up all night in his head poking and prodding, trying to recall anything. The night grew on and nothing was recovered. As the sun began to peak in through his window, 74X couldn't help but wonder what of he memories had become more fractured and lost. Was it something about his parents? His childhood? His school? Friends? Maybe it was his favorite color he had forgotten. Or maybe it was more specific. Maybe it was about a special moment – something that had defined him.

Could he be who he was before without that what defined him before?

He remembers falling into tears then as the new day began.

Was something new better than something broken?

Maybe Dr. King was right. Maybe it was better moving on.

"We're here." Dr. King states as the car slows down. 74X's green eyes look out the front windshield to see the car had stopped in front of solid metal gate. It was tall enough so that the redhead even leaning forward couldn't see past it this close up. The metal was dark and harsh. Was this normal for a research center? 74X wasn't sure as he looked to the left and right of the gate. There was a stone wall disappearing into forest hedge with razor wire hung on the top of it.

"What is that for?" 74X asks pointing to the wire as Dr. King rolls down his window. The older man paused and looked over to his patient. He followed to where 74X was pointing to. "Ah, yes, the electric fence. The facility here has many patients and not all of them are fit for the outside world. We have to protect them from the outside and the outside from there." He answered as he turned to his window. There was speaker box there and once Dr. King pressed in a code of some kind and a woman's voice broke through the deceive.

"Hello, Dr. King, how can we help you?" The unnamed woman asked.

Raymon smiled, "Hi, Elise. Please open the gate. I'm returning from recovery with patient 74X-2D89."

"The patient is well?" Elise asks.

"Very."

"Good to hear. Opening the gate now, Dr. King." The connection broke and King starts to roll up his window. A siren rings out and 74X is suddenly on edge, however, King didn't seem surprised. With a large groan the metal gate begins to roll out of the way. It was a slow process, but as the gate move the large concrete facility was revealed. The siren didn't stop until the gate was closed again.

It was as decorated as the wall was – grey, hard and angular. The building's height varied from one floor to three stories with on the far side what looked like an enclosed courtyard. Or at least whatever was back there didn't have a roof like the rest of the building. There were no inlets, just slick walls but there were windows that gave the building a slightly nicer feel than the wall. At least it tried to. All the windows had those hospital blue curtains on them hiding the inside from the outside world which made the attempt at warming the place up fall short.

The inside had the same bad attempt at feeling warm as the drapes did. The walls were light and bordered with molding. There were occasional photos that tied loosely to the facilities history. 74X didn't have a lot of time to examine any of the pictures closely as he followed King closely.

74X couldn't help but notice the high security measures. All the doors had fingerprint scanners along with a key pad. Some doors even had compressed seals. He wondered if the separated areas each had their own air systems or was the compressed seals for a reason other than worry about contaminated air. Whatever the reason though it was clear that security was concern for the facility and 74X couldn't help but be uneasy.

They went deeper and deeper into the facility passing a woman at the first desk with a nameplate declaring her as the Elise woman that had spoken to King through the speaker outside the gate and several men in security uniforms along with a few others in doctor coats or scrubs. Everyone seems to greet King as he walks by. King merely nodded at their greetings determined to lead 74X…where ever they were going.

As they turned a corner 74X stopped short, his eye wide at the scene before him.

Two security guards and three men in scrubs were struggling to contain a young man, probably a little older than 74X, with dark hair. The man struggled and pushed and yelled and cursed as one of the security guards used his radio to call in back up.

"Get off me!" Yelled the boy, "I didn't do anything! Get off!"

"SR3, calm down." The tallest of the scrub dressed men called out. The plea only seem to intensify the young man dressed in the same attire as 74X: jeans, black shirt and work boots. Must be a uniform of some king, 74X thought as he processed the situation quickly.

The guards pushed SR3 to the ground. He yelled out in pain.

"Wait right here." As the words left Dr. King's mouth he looked back at the redhead only to find him gone. A loud grunt from the fight drew back his attention and he found the guards and nurses on the floor and 74X helping SR3 up to his feet.

SR3 looked stunned and bewildered as the teen helped him up. His pale eyes looking over the nurses as they began to open their eyes. "Thanks, kid…wow…how'd you do that?" SR3 got out slowly.

King stepped forward situating himself between the drowsy guards and his patients. "74X has special talents. Much like yourself, SR3." When the young man's eyes locked onto Dr. King, he went ridged with attention. "Now, what happened?"

"I'm on break, sir. I'm allowed to walk the halls in Sector P." The young man defended.

King nodded, "You are." The doctor turned to the guards. One of them was just now getting to his feet as the other helped one of the nurses. "What happened, Johnson?" King asked the one standing.

Johnson clicked, slowly, to attention. "Patient SR3 was out of his room without an escort. Then when Nurse Thompson asked for his papers he pushed her down and ran. We then tried to restrain him and he resisted."

"SR3?"

"Well…" The young man looked down at his feet. "I might have ran…but I didn't push anyone down."

King pursed his lips then he dismissed the guards. "I'll handle this. I think gentlemen we need to remember SR3's roots." He then turned to SR3 and 74X waiting for the guards to leave. Once they left, "SR3, please remember to behavior while I'm outside the facility."

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry."

"Good. Now, 74X meet SR3. He's going to be one of your team leader here."

"Team?" 74X questioned at the same time as SR3 said, "So he's the new guy?"

King motioned for them to follow as he started down the hallway again. The two young men followed. "We find that patients achieve more when they are forms meaningful relationships. Now hurry along, I'll show you to your room and then SR3 will take you to the lounge where he will introduce you to the rest of your team until dinner."

* * *

**A/N:** What is Dr. King researching? Who is SR3 and this team? What is the Team doing now that they know Wally's missing? Will they figure out Rudy and Mary are lying? Oh the questions!

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and favorites. It really makes a difference in writing. Just to let you guys know, I won't update the next chapter until late next week. I'm out of town for a while for work and I'm struggling at the moment with some personal issues so I won't be able to write until I get back from work.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89**  
Chapter Three: **Research Facility Part 1**  
Word Count: **2,548**  
Summary:** Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

**Recap: **After waking up with out his memory, Wally - I mean 74X is sold to Dr. King who has taken him to his research facility where there are a number of other patients that 74X will begin to work with.**  
**

* * *

_Same Day, November 2__nd__  
Lounge, King Research Facility, Unknown Location_

74X sat in the blue armchair in the grey painted room. The chair wasn't that comfortable but it could have been worse, he supposed. Windows lined one wall, they had those ugly curtains on them protecting them from the outside world, and another wall had a book shelf filled with books of various color and shape. Another identical armchair sat to 74X's left that was occupied by a young girl who was humming to herself. A large couch was across from 74X with a wooden table and chairs behind it. A few books were laid upon it. Another girl was sitting there flipping through the books. Two boys sat on the couch one of which being SR3 the other was broad shoulder youth with blond hair and a frown.

"Yeah, so this is the lounge. We get free time in here and sometimes out in the courtyard." SR3 explained for the third time. He then huffed, stood up and looked at the others. "Come on guys, don't be rude. Play nice. Introduce yourselves." While the words themselves weren't that hard the tone was. It was certainly an order. Was SR3 in charge, then? By the looks of it that seemed the case.

The girl to 74X's left smiled and stuck out her hand to the newcomer. "Hello. I'm XYZ." She introduced, "It's lovely to meet you." He shook her hand as he studied her. She was quite young maybe fourteen but no older. Her hair was short and choppy as if she had cut it herself without a mirror. It was dyed all sorts of colors. Again it looked home done. The bright colors seem to bleed into each other creating a mess that did nothing for her looks. Her smile was nice though, and she had pretty brown eyes. "Don't look so freaked, it's not so bad here."

"Huh?" He questioned. Had he looked worried? He didn't think so. Sure his mind was a mess but he had been trying to keep his features in control until he got a good gauge on the rest of the occupants of the room.

"They take care of you here. It's nice. I've never been taken care of before I came here." XZY stated readjusting in her seat.

"Where were you before here?" He asked, but she didn't answer just shrugged her shoulders and went back to picking at her nails. They were short from biting, he notes. There's nothing to pick at.

The blond boy grunted. He looks older than 74X with dark blue eyes and a hard jaw. "It doesn't matter." When he got the attention he wanted he continued, "Where she was before I mean. It doesn't matter. Before doesn't matter." That sounded like a mantra. Was he trying to convince himself or the others? "I'm 96P." He added the name as an afterthought.

74X turned to the last girl as did SR3. He tapped his foot impatiently and dramatically. She looked up with annoyance, locked dark eyes with the team leader and sighed before getting up and walking across the room her light brown pony tail flopping as she did so. As she approached 74X got to his feet, she extended her hand. She wore gloves along with the rest of the uniform. "JQK. I hope you can pull your weight because I want to see the outside world again." The two missed SR3's sigh and shake of his head.

"What do you mean?" 74X asked, brows furrowed shaking her hand. The gloves were thick leather; he could barely feel her hand underneath the fabric.

"I mean," She exaggerated her words as if he was slow; "you fill up the team. Once we get you trained up it means we'll be sent on jobs. The jobs are our payment for getting taken care of here. If we do enough we earn our freedom."

"Freedom?" He interrupted, "Are we stuck here?"

JQK crossed her arms, "What do you think?" She went back to her books.

"Don't listen to her." XYZ whispers when 74X sits back down. "She's uppity."

"Is she right?" XYZ looks sad for a second and doesn't answer. "SR3, is she right? What is going on? Where am I? Why are we here? How did you guys get here?" He was starting to panic. Honestly he should have seen it coming. This was just all too much for him to handle all at once. How long ago had he woken up without knowing who he was? Where did Dr. King take him? Would Harris have let him go if he thought King would endanger him? Wasn't Gotham corrupt? Was Harris? King? Why does King want to help him? Is he friends with Harris – doing the man a favor? Oh god, why couldn't he breath?

He felt pressure on his shoulders as someone held him down. Cold tile felt nice against his skin. "74X, Calm down! It's okay. Let me explain. Calm down!" Slowly, 74X stopped struggling against the hands and he pried his eyes open. When had he shut them? "Just breathe." SR3 instructed.

"I am." 74X told the other boy as he looked about. He had fallen to the floor in his episode. SR3 had crossed the room to help him as XYZ pulled her legs up into her chair. She looked worried as she hugged herself. 96P stood but did not move looking at SR3 for instructions and JQK has paused beside the couch on the way back to the table. The expression of annoyance is spread across her features as if she didn't like how he was handling things. How the hell was he supposed to handle this?

SR3 let go and sat back on his heels, "Good. You want to rest a bit before I explain?"

The redhead shook his head. "No I need answers, please. I'm lost. Big time."

"Alright get comfy." They both returned their seats. XYZ reached a hand over to 74X. He took it without thinking holding it tight. "Dr. King runs this place. It's a research facility that focuses on humans with a certain gene that gives special…um, powers or abilities. Honestly, it's pretty cool what some of us can do." He explains slowly, "Anyways, King doesn't just study our abilities. He trains them, tries to manipulate them, recreate them, and uses them. Well, at least he has us use them for him. He says it's to pay for our stay here. It sounds manipulative and it is but it's a fair deal, okay. We don't get beaten, starved, or anything and he doesn't use us as test subjects for crazy drugs. I've been in a lot worse places and King has a good system. JQK over there is just bitter because she supposedly had a "good life" before she came here. But that's crap. King saved us and he's helping us, so why not help him out?"

74X thought about that, "What exactly are we helping him with?"

"Depends. Usually we guard supply runs but sometimes we bother some bad guys – gangs and such. King likes to rant on how corrupt the justice system is and how useless the "heroes" of the world are."

"You did? JQK said you needed me before you could do jobs?"

"King likes to have five members on a team before he sends them on jobs and we did, before, but P9H…uh, he died. His powers malfunctioned or something and it got him killed." Everyone ignored JQK's huff of disapproval.

"What happened?" 74X asked concerned and curious.

"He controlled fire, like made it, I mean but he wasn't very trained and this one time on a job he made some fire but couldn't seem to stop making it. The fire kept growing and it came from him so he couldn't get away from it. He panicked and ended bringing the whole building down. P9H died when the rubble crushed him." SR3 explained solemnly looking out towards the covered windows.

"Yeah, but he took nearly the whole gang with him." 96P added. He wasn't really smiling but he seemed proud of his fallen friend.

XYZ nodded, "He did, didn't he. He was a good guy."

The room grew quiet the only sound being JQK flipping pages of her book. 74X studied his lap as the others remembered their friend. Then, "So you guys know who you were before?" When he looked up, he was greeted with confused glances. "I mean you have real names and families? Why are you here?"

"Oh," SR3 started but was cut off by XYZ, "No. You see, SR3 and me were both lab rats. We've been tested on and studied since we could walk. Don't know anything about our families or anything like that. It doesn't matter though; we got along. Often, we were bought or traded to other facilities for other people to poke and prod us but we never had names just a different set of numbers and we were treated poorly. I like it here, King is nice."

Seriously? They were lab rats? 74X's were wide and only grew wider when SR3 nodded confirming the tale.

"96P, over there, he's not even human. Someone created him or something but didn't like how he turned out so they sold him as a secret weapon to a few places. King rescued him from some African country trying to use him as a tool for genocide." XYZ continued. "And JQK over there suffers from amnesia. She claims she had a real life and was stolen but honestly she doesn't really know." JQK screwed up her face as she read but stayed quiet.

"I do too." 74X speaks up softly. "I don't remember anything other than waking up in a hospital in Gotham a few weeks ago."

XYZ squeezed his hand in confront and smiles. "Then, you'll fit right in."

When he looks at her in surprise he's almost positive she has dark red hair framing her brown eyes. He blinks and her hair is back to its messy state of colors. She seems entirely genuine. He smiled back.

Maybe things aren't so bad. It could be worse, he supposed.

_That Night, November 2__nd__  
74X's room, King Research Facility, Unknown Location_

74X was lying down in his bed, his hands crossed beneath his head as he stares unfocused at the popcorn ceiling above him. Moments ago he had been looking at shapes the rough surface had been making.

The room was a lot like the rest of the building. Grey and plain without any sort of personal touch except those blue curtains that he was really starting to hate. XYZ and SR3 both told him that if he was good he could earn some kind of points which he could use for privileges and get a different blanket, more pillows, and various other things.

XYZ uses her points for hair dye apparently while SR3 and JQK use their to gain more time outside in the courtyard. And 96P apparently uses all of his points for pillows: he has nearly ten on his twin bed. 74X wasn't sure how the guy managed to fit with all of that, he barely fit with the one pillow he had been given.

The pillow situation wasn't that bothersome though, the lack of color was. He missed the bright color of…of the outside? Why didn't that seem right? The redhead screwed up his face in concentration. What did he know that was colorful? Was his room before?

If so, what color was it? Yellow? Something really bright and sunny. No, not yellow. Hm, orange? No, he didn't really seem to like that color. Clashed with his hair. Red then? It's still bright and warm. 74X pictured the room he was in now with red walls. It made him smile. Yeah, red.

Was that it then? Was his old room red and he missed the brightness of it? Why didn't that feel right? It made sense…didn't it? "Ugh!" He groaned. Man, this not remembering stuff was frustrating.

He wondered if JQK had thoughts like he did. Was that why she was so mad? It made sense. It was easy to get all worked up trying to figure out the lock for his own head. Or did she legitimately not like this place? Was the team really stuck here?

Even if they weren't prisoners, though, it didn't seem like SR3, XYZ, and 96P had anywhere else to really go.

Hell, for that matter 74X, himself, didn't have anywhere to go if he left.

He had no idea where he was from and it didn't really seem like anyone was looking for him. If he went back to Gotham he had no idea where to start in the large dark city. Besides, if he still trusted his feelings then he honestly doesn't think he's from Gotham. It didn't feel like that was where he was supposed to be. Wouldn't have Gotham police found something out about where he lived or parents if he lived in Gotham? Wouldn't someone have looked for him?

What if he didn't have anyone to look for him? What if he was alone? Some lost kid. Dr. Harris did say he came in with no money or ID. Maybe he never had one. Maybe he was like SR3 and XYZ, maybe grew up in some lab and escaped to the streets. Or hell, maybe he wasn't even human like 96P. Some creation or something.

He felt human. Humans had families. But if he did have a family, why weren't they looking for?

Maybe no one was looking because he wasn't missed. Maybe his family or friends or whoever was glad he was gone. Maybe he had been some kind of bully or troubled kid. His victims finally free from his torment.

What if he was a terrible person before?

He doesn't want to be bad guy…SR3 said King has them take care of bad guys some times. Good guys did that. Despite whatever he was before, he could be a good guy now – here with King and the team. He could be hero.

Why did that word seem to mean so much more than it should? It was certainly more than just another combination of letters. "Hero." He whispered the word. It tasted good on his lips. Good but heavy. What did that mean?

74X screwed his eyes shut and then rubbed them hard with the palms of his hands until he started to see bursts of light in his dark vision. He groaned again and flipped around in his bed. Dr. King was right. It was better to just move on. Now didn't give him a headache and frustration and disappointment.

* * *

**A/N::** Is Wally really willing to move on without his memories? What will he do if they come back? What will Dr. King do? What powers do his new teammates hold and how will things work with them? Are they telling him the truth or is it just more lies? What is Mary and Rudy doing? What is the team doing? Find out next time!

So Wally has a new team. Don't worry, they'll only help progress the story. It's not about them. It's about Wally, though they do help the story. In the next chapter we hear from Wally's old team and his parents. I feel like we're ignoring them. Also, you have no idea how hard it is to type 74X instead of Wally every time and then switch back to using Wally with the Team, haha.

Hopefully, you guys enjoyed the chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: **A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89**  
Chapter Six: **Can't Keep Me Out**  
Word Count: **4,148**  
Summary:** Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

**Recap: **Wally ran away from his father only to end up without his memory and in the hands of Dr. King at some research facility. To cover up the beatings and hide away secrets, Rudy and Mary lied about their son's disappearance. Now Wally's true friends and family are searching in the wrong places. **  
**

* * *

_November 3__rd__  
West Family Home, Blue Valley, Nebraska_

Rudy sat in his office, telephone in hand as Mary prepared dinner in the kitchen. It was taking longer than normal since Mary had taken to cleaning each and every dish that afternoon since Barry and a few of his friends had came over to rifle through their son's room for the second time. The heroes hadn't been anywhere near the kitchen but Mary had insisted that they had ruined everything. Tomorrow, she said, she'd start cleaning the rest of the house.

Rudy held onto the phone tightly; his knuckles white, his wife far from his mind.

"This better not fall back onto us, Rudolph." The graveled tone on the other side of the line rasped. "We can't be exposed now."

Rudy nodded even though his superior could not see it. "I know, sir, and it won't. I promise. Wallace's disappearance won't get back you."

The voice hissed, "How can you promise such a thing? You don't even know where the boy is?"

Rudy pushed the lump in his throat down, "His uncle is looking for him. If he finds him then Wallace will return home and everything will go on as normal."

"Don't be so naïve." The man chastised. "If they find him do you really think he'll keep quiet? I don't believe your story about his disappearance will match up with your son's." Rudy didn't have a chance to say anything in response. "The League looking into your family can't end well." For a second Rudy thinks isn't sure his superior is speaking to him.

"I wouldn't worry about stories, sir. I'll talk to the boy first. Get Barry to let me talk to him before anyone else. I'll interject myself into the situation more if I have too." Rudy tried to convince. "Wallace doesn't know anything about the organization, anyways, sir. Once I get Wallace to match the stories up about his disappearance everything will be fine."

The man sucked in a bad breath and began to cough. He waited for it to settle before talking, "I wouldn't be so sure, Rudolph. The boy is smarter than you give him credit for. It's a shame you wasted such a potential asset. He'd never help us now." If it was anyone else, Rudy would have gone off on them. But Rudy was smart too and he knew to hold his tongue. The man sighed then, "Rudolph?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Handle things." The line went dead.

_Same Day, November 3__rd__  
Mount Justice, Happy Harbor _

The Team had gathered in Robin's room after training that morning. The only League member at the mountain was their Den Mother and he was in his room leaving them in isolation for a short while. The Team took advantage of the time.

"Are we sure we can talk here?" Megan asks concern in her voice as she looks around for the Boogie Man. She had only been in Robin's room once before. It was unsettling to be in the room, even more so given the circumstances.

Robin nods, "This used to Batman's room. Security is all beefed up in here. We're safe." He walks into the middle of the room, the Team spread around the room. "Now, what are we gonna do about Wally?"

"Batman and Flash said to leave it alone." Conner stated matter of factly. It wasn't opposition to drop the subject but a warning of caution. Whatever they do needs to be under the radar. At least until they have something to hand over of value.

"They don't get to cut us out on this one." Artemis barks. The kid was part of _their_ team. The two might banter and sure it might be a bit harsher than before the break up but she still liked him. And she knew he still cared for her. They were a team. That had always came first, especially to Wally. "Wally is one of us. We'll find him and then save him from whatever he got his ass into."

There was a solid agreement to that statement from the rest of the team.

"Excellent." Kaldur smiles from his seat in the desk chair, "Then what do we have to go on? Robin?"

Taking the hint, Robin begins to brief them. "Not much, unfortunately. Since his parent's grounded him, Wally hadn't been in contact with anyone. And I mean anyone. Not any of us, or his uncle. Not even Hartley – the Pied Piper – who Wally is friends with at school. Mentioning school, it should be pointed out that since Wally's grounded he hasn't been. According to his mother, Wally leaves for school and then comes home at the right time as if he had gone but the school has no record of him attending during that time. And there aren't any clues as to what he's been doing during the time that he's supposedly at school. His phone is off and the Flash has Wally's computer so I can't go through to see if there is any data." The more Robin talked the more he seemed to frown. Zatanna was surprised he hadn't started pacing. He ran a hand through his hair, "Guys, this is totally not astrous."

"Can you not remote access his computer or something?" Kaldur asks.

Robin shakes his head, "Not without it being noticed."

"What about the computer, Wally uses here?" Megan asks.

"What computer?"

"Earlier this year, I ran into Wally carrying a box into his room. When I asked him what it was. He had told me that he had been saving for a while and he was finally able to buy a laptop. I was surprised he brought it to the mountain still in its box and he shrugged saying it wouldn't have done him any good at home. I didn't understand but it was clear he didn't want me to push so I dropped it." Megan clutched her hand at her throat. "Do you think that it had anything to do with where he went? Maybe I should have asked more about it." Conner placed a hand on her knee in hopes to calm her.

"I don't think so, Megan." Kaldur offers though there is a hint of unknown certainty that Robin can't help but notice because he's been thinking the same thing ever since they learned of Wally's disappearance: maybe whatever is happening has been happening for longer than anyone noticed and maybe Robin should have taken that phone call from his friend that night weeks ago. "But perhaps we should check his room for the laptop and other clues."

"If Flash and Batman hadn't taken it all." Artemis bites as they start to get up.

"I don't think they have." Zatanna offers, "Neither one of them were down this hallway since we learned of Wally's disappearance. I believe they don't think there is anything of value in a room that Wally hardly uses."

"Then let's get in there before and find something before they realize there might be something there and take from us."

They leave Robin's room and walk a short ways down the hall to the missing redhead's room. "Alright, Boy Wonder, get to cracking." Artemis jokes pointing at the keypad that locked the room.

Robin can't help but grin as he presses in the code. He doesn't have to hack. Wally had told him the code when they first got the key. At first it had simply been a series of number but soon it was revealed to be Iris West's birthday. It was not a surprised, Wally had always told him that before Barry or Roy or himself there had been Iris.

Once, when the two had been trapped in a room by a collapsed support beam on a mission the two had been sharing stories about their family – or rather Wally was sharing stories because Robin had been forbidden from doing so – and Wally had stated that when he was younger all he had wanted to be was a hero like his aunt. At first, Robin had thought Wally had simply misspoken. He must have meant the Flash as at the time he hadn't met the man beneath the mask. He hadn't been able to ask as they were rescued soon after but a few weeks later Robin had visited Wally at his aunt and uncle's place for the first time and he had saw that Wally had not misspoken. He had meant his aunt.

While, Wally obviously spent more time with his uncle now a day with training and being a superhero, Wally's admiration for his aunt never dwindled. Robin was sure it never would.

The door to Wally's room slide open revealing the generic housing room with a messy bed, scattered desk and clothes thrown about. It was clear that this was a room that was not 'hardly used'. No, Wally was using the room a lot more than anyone seem to notice. Above his desk thumb tacked to the wall was several pages of Wally's scrawl with a single picture in the mix. Robin didn't have to move to know who was in the picture: Iris and Barry – Wally's heroes.

"Look around, see if we can find that laptop or anything else of importance." Robin ordered as he walked up to the desk with Kaldur beside him. Zatanna and Megan began searching through Wally's closet as Artemis looked through the belongings on the floor. Conner rummaged the bed, picking it up when he needed to search below it.

Robin skimmed the pinned papers as Kaldur tried to make sense of the papers on the desk. "Just study sheets." Robin explains reading the study sheet that Wally had made for one of his math classes. It listed various formals and theories as did the one for physics. "Looks like Wally would study here sometimes. Bet he has these same notes above his own desk."

"Don't know for sure?" Artemis asks as she steps up next to him, crouched down to explain the next pile of clothes and papers.

"Huh?" Robin asks looking down at her.

Artemis looks up at him, surprise in her eyes with a hint of envy. "You never been to Wally's room. Figured you went over all the time with how close you guys are."

"Nope, but what about you? You dated him." Robin shot back before stopping short. They exchange glances as they came to the same conclusion. It was true. They were both closest to Wally but neither had been to Wally's home.

"When I visited him we'd go to his aunt and uncle's place in Central." Robin explains.

"Me too. I don't even know where Blue Valley is."

"It's in Nebraska." The strong voice of Conner cuts their conversation. They turn to him across the room. He looks back at them. "When I first got away from Cadmus, Wally let me stay with him and his parents remember? Their house is in Nebraska."

Robin paused. Why was he getting on edge? Just because Conner knew something that neither Artemis nor him knew about Wally didn't mean anything. Wally was still _his_ best friend. So what if Wally had never brought him home to meet his parents? That didn't matter. Wally didn't even know his real name. He shouldn't be so bristled. It wasn't fair and at the moment there were more important things.

"What were they like?" Megan asks. "His parents I mean."

Conner shrugged. "They were alright. His dad wasn't home often I got the feeling him and Wally were mad at each other but all that Wally would say was that he worked a lot. His mom was okay – strange but okay. She spent a lot of her time cleaning and cooking. I didn't think the house was very dirty but Wally said his mom has OCD and that's why she's cleaning all the time. He told me not to worry about it. And when I was there, he didn't have those study sheets." Conner explains pointing one finger at the papers pinned to the wall behind Robin.

"That was a few years ago. Wally could have started doing them recently." Zatanna offered, though she like everyone else could tell something was off. Maybe the sheets weren't important but they did mean Wally spent time at the mountain instead of his home.

"I believe I have found it my friend." Kaldur breaks the silence as he pulls out the cherry red laptop from the bottom desk draw.

_That Night, November 3__rd__  
West Family Home, Blue Valley, Nebraska_

Mary and her husband laid in their bed together. He had spent all dinner telling her about his phone conversation. She nearly started crying again. _This was not happening. This was not happening._ She told herself over and over again. _This can't be happening. The house is still a mess. This can't happen too._

All she ever wanted was a nice simple life and then Rudy came into her life. She loved the man since she met him. Without any doubt, she knew when she first saw him that she would love him for the rest of her life. She just didn't realize that her life would be this.

A complete mess.

If only Wallace hadn't run, then they wouldn't be in this web of lies. Now everyone will figure out how shattered they all are. They'll come into _their_ lives and tear it apart. They'll destroy it. All of it. All because Wallace had to _run_.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if he had come back right away. He had to know that he could do that. They were a family. Broken but whole. Didn't he know that? No, he probably didn't. He probably didn't notice too busy trying to make a new family with her sister-in-law, her husband, and those freak friends of his.

Why had Wallace ran? He never ran before. Rudy was mad but he had a right. They had called and explained how Wallace and the other freaks had ruined their shipment. Didn't he know by now to quit playing hero?! Didn't he know that shipment was important? Didn't he listen?

Mary huffed and rolled over. "Rudy, we have a problem."

"I know, dear." Rudy's gruff voice carried in the dark room. He sounded tired.

"As long as Wallace is gone, we'll be okay."

Rudy nodded, "Yes, dear."

"I think I have a solution."

"What is that?" Rudy was listening now, his eyebrows high in curiosity. Mary didn't like to involve herself. It made it hard to play like everything was normal and fine and simple.

"What if we make sure he doesn't come home?"

The room's air is hot and tense, "You mean kill him?" Rudy pauses, "We'd have to know where he was at."

"_We_ can't kill him!" Mary squeaked. "We're his parents. No, no, we'll hire someone. Hire to find and then kill. That way even if Barry finds him he won't be able to say anything." Mary paused and thought for a second, "With him gone all of _those_ people would leave us alone and then we can be the family that we always wanted to be before…we never wanted kids, remember Rudy? We talked about it before. We didn't want kids."

"I remember." Was all Rudy could say thinking over what his wife had proposed.

_Same Night, November 3__rd__  
LM Magazine Headquarters, Gotham_

Rachael Gonzales was looking for front page material. She always was. Sooner or later her work would make the front cover of LM Magazine – even if it killed her. Which it might – late nights, high levels of caffeine, little food, loads of stress, and switching between staring at her computer screen to photos couldn't be healthy. Honestly, Rachael kept waiting for her doctor to tell her she had weeks to live.

And it would all be worth it, if she could only find the right story.

A few weeks ago, she had thought she had found it. A mystery friend of the famous Gotham heir. And her boss had loved the idea. The only problem was that she couldn't find anything and eventually her boss told her to move onto the next story. The next story ended up on page 43.

She wasn't about to give up though. She could taste that cover page. Rachael might not be a big name in the industry just yet, but one day she will be because she can smell a story. She feels it in her gut and this mystery felt like a lead weight.

Plus, anything to do with Richard Greyson made for a good story. Everyone loved to read about the heir and there simply wasn't enough articles about him to satisfy that want.

Which lead her to once again staying past closing, off the clock, trying to find anything on Richard Greyson's friends.

At first, she had searched through Gotham Academy. It made the most sense, but there was no Wally or Wallace enrolled in the school. While it made the job harder it did make the story better, something Rachael had to remind herself of as she spoke to several students at Gotham Academy that Greyson sometimes hung out with only to turn up with a dead end. If they had said anything it was that they didn't know who she was talking about.

Rachael then looked through employees at Wayne Industries. She looked to see if anyone had the right name or even a child with the name. One secretary did have a son name Wallace but he had turned two about a month ago. No matter how smart, a two year old couldn't operate a phone.

For about a week she had thought that was it. Then, things turned around. Yesterday, her harmless flirting with manager at Phone Merchandise pulled through and he had gotten her the number that had called Richard Greyson the night of the party. When she looked into it, however, it ended up being some pay phone on the corner of Salem and Mockingbird in east Gotham.

Right now, she was standing on that exact corner. It was later than she would have liked to be out, especially in his area, but she had small pistol in her purse and she had changed out of her heals into running shoes. She couldn't imagine the Wayne heir ever hanging out around here, but it was the phone that Wally had called from.

Rachael looked across the street and down the block. Across the street was an old run down theater that wasn't open anymore and tall, cheap apartment buildings. The majority of the block with the pay phone was taken up by even more housing with a small diner up the street and an ATM bolted into the wall outside a smoke shop. Rachael smiled and walked up to the ATM.

She stood in front of it, located the camera on it and turned around trying to see if it could have recorded Wally on the phone with Richard. She wasn't sure, but it looked like that Rachael might have just gotten a picture of what Wally looked like. Retrieving a notepad from her purse, Rachael wrote down the ATM provider and serial number along with the shop it was in front of and the street address.

It was too late to night, but tomorrow she'd make some calls.

_Same Night, November 3__rd__  
Wayne Manor, Gotham_

Richard had taken the laptop and gone home telling everyone to lay low for a day or two with the hope of using the equipment in the cave to assist in the breakdown of Wally's laptop, but Bruce was home _and_ in the cave. Dick couldn't take the chance. Instead, he had made his way to his room and over to his desk. Slowly, he placed his own laptop in a desk draw and then withdrew Wally's red laptop from his bag and placed it on the desk where his normally went. That way he could pass it off as his own piece of equipment to prying eyes.

Alfred and Bruce had sought him out several times since Wally's disappearance to see how he was handling things. They knew that he was close to Wally and that not doing anything to help would be hard. Dick figured they were also making sure that he was still doing nothing.

Like hell, he thought as he powered on Wally's laptop, was he going to do nothing. They shouldn't even try to stop him. They should have let him help. He could be of use, after all. But, no they had to play grown up and push him and other _kids_ out of the playhouse. Didn't they learn from the mission into Cadmus that technique wasn't going to work? And that had only been himself, Aqualad, and Kid Flash. Now there were six of them and they were a team.

Did they really think they could keep them out of this?

They didn't have a right too.

The screen lite up blue with a small box in the middle and a space to type a password into. The picture was of track shoes. Robin paused. Should he try the password or just get around it? Robin typed in Iris' birthday a second later. The password screen disappeared and the desktop began to load. Robin was going to have to talk to Wally about using the same password for everything. It was not a good idea.

Waiting for it to load, Robin couldn't help but think about what he was doing. He was looking through his friend's private stuff. Crossing a line. What if there was something on there that Wally didn't want him to know? What if there was something that could help him find Wally? Robin knew he had made up his mind. He'd do whatever it would take to help his friend even if it meant things Wally wouldn't like.

Things were a mess right now and Robin didn't have any leads but this laptop. He would have to take the chance of finding something he shouldn't.

What all could Wally not want him to see anyways? Wally was an open book.

Suddenly, Robin skipped a breath. Was that true? Was Wally really? There seem to be more surrounding the boy than anyone seems to know. Wally seems to keep more secrets than anyone gave him credit for. Robin knew that Wally could avoid a question like nobody else but Robin hadn't realized exactly to what extent apparently. Thinking about it, Robin realized how much he doesn't know about his friend.

For starters, anything about his parents or his hometown and then there's the fact that for a while Robin hadn't known that Wally didn't live in Central. Wally spoke of his school work but not about the actually place making Robin wonder if Wally went to school in Central or Blue Valley. The only friend Wally spoke up outside of the Team was Hartley and he lived a double life too. Hell, Wally really didn't speak of his alter identity's life much did he. Anything personal never got out of custom.

And then he gets it. That's why Wally never pushed about Robin's secret identity because Robin didn't know his either. It was fair that Wally didn't know because Robin didn't know either.

Robin took a breath. While all that may be true there was something else to consider that just because Robin didn't know where his friend went to school at didn't mean that he didn't know him. No, Wally was right – they knew each other and knowing a name or home town wouldn't change that.

They were best friends and teammates and sometimes brothers. And right now, Wally could be in trouble.

Richard began searching through Wally's documents first. He wouldn't get very far in his search before succumbing to sleep two hours later.

* * *

**A/N**:: Oh noes! How will Rudy and Mary fulfill on their new plan? And who was Rudy talking to on the phone anyways? Some sort of boss? Looks like the Team didn't take well to being pushed out of the search for Wally. Doing their own investigation, what will they learn? Will the League learn of their work? What have they found out? How is Barry holding up? And what about Rachael? Find out next time!

Longest chapter yet! This chapter just keep getting longer and longer. I don't know what happened. XP I hope you guys liked it - it was fun writing the other POVs. The reviews I have been getting are really encouraging and I want to **thank** _everyone_ that took the time to write something. It really makes my day to see reviews.

I decided that Nov 3rd was a busy day, haha. Hopefully I got everyone pretty in character. Tell me if anything is odd, please, I appreciate the feedback.

I realized that last chapter I didn't fix the information up at the top of each chapter. I wanted to apologize for that, I totally didn't see it until about two days ago. I've been running on a little amount of sleep lately and I'm sure it's reflected in my writing, especially my editing which is poor to begin with.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title: **A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89**  
Chapter Seven: **A Step Closer**  
Word Count: **1,866**  
Summary:** Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

**Recap: **After waking up with out his memory, Wally - I mean 74X is sold to Dr. King who has taken him to his research facility where there are a number of other patients that 74X will begin to work with. A reporter Rachael is looking into who Richard Greyson's mysterious friend is in order to get front page coverage Barry and Bruce search for the missing speedster. Doing their own investigation, the Team and Robin find Wally's second laptop.

* * *

_November 6__th__  
LM Magazine Headquarters, Gotham_

Getting the ATM camera feed was easier than it should be, but Rachael wasn't complaining. It was another late night for the reporter as she shifted through the footage for the mysterious Wally. She had found the right night and was at the moment fast-forwarding towards the right time. She hadn't remembered exactly what time Richard Greyson had taken that phone call that night, but she had narrowed it down to an hour time frame.

Surprisingly enough for a decade of mobile phones, several people had used that payphone within the time frame Rachael had determined. Three of the seven were female so Rachael crossed them off her list right away. One man was on the phone for nearly double the time that Greyson had been on the phone so Rachael eliminated him as well. While she crossed him off the list she took off the third man as well determining he was much too old to be talking to Greyson by payphone. The heir had spoken to Wally as if they were on even ground, which meant more of a friend than a mentor or teacher. The last two, Rachael thought, could both be Wally.

The first one of the two, was no older than twenty-two, had walked up the payphone only to hang up a few moments later in obvious frustration. He had stormed off in the direction of the diner on the street. The second possibility had come into the frame a few minutes later. He was hurt, badly, and seems to struggle for needed amount of change to make his phone call. It too was short, but instead of anger the young man seemed devastated and utterly lost. He hung up the phone and started to make his way towards the left in the opposite direction as the other man.

The second man would make a better story, Rachael thought, but it could be either of them.

Taking some still shots from the ATM footage, Rachael got decent head shots of both men. They weren't the best quality but if someone knew them she thought they would recognize them. Instead of taking the pictures to Greyson and asking which one was Wally because the boy could obviously lie or simply deny it all, she decided to take another trip down to that street corner. The diner was open twenty-four/seven; maybe someone there had seen either of the young men.

Rachael shut down her cubical and made the drive in easy time. Even in Gotham traffic wasn't bad in the middle of the night. With the two photos in hand, pistol in her purse, she parked, locked her car, and entered the diner.

There were only three waitresses in the main room, that Rachael could see, all carrying for two tables. One of the tables sat a middle age couple in an argument of some kind and the other was filled with four teenagers just getting out of a late movie if their talk was anything to go by. One of the waitresses came to door as Rachael entered.

"Just you tonight, ma'am?" The girl asked. Her name tag read Carol. She looked young and bright eyed. Rachael guessed she didn't work the night shift often.

"I'm not eating tonight," Rachael stated clearly throwing Carol off, "I'm actually here to see if anyone recognize either of these two men?" Rachael presented Carol the photos. Carefully, Carol took the photos studying them.

"Um…I don't know this guy," She says giving back the second photo, "but this one looks like Randy."

"Randy?" Rachael asks surprised.

"Yeah, let me go get him." Before Rachael could say anything else the girl disappeared into the back. A few seconds later she returns with the angry young man from the photo trailing behind her. He's dressed as a cook.

"You lookin' for me?" He asks, a strong Italian accent.

Rachael shakes her head, "Sorry, I'm looking for someone else," She hands him the photo of the hurt man, "do you recognize him?"

Randy takes the photo and looks it over. In a very short time he hands it back to her, "Yeah, I've seen him before. Comes in here from time to time with some rich kid. He eats a lot, only reason I know him. There's only two of us in the back this late, whenever he's here I wish there was six of us." Randy grimaces in the memories, but Rachael can't stop smiling.

As soon as he said he had recognize the boy, she had removed a notepad and a pen from her purse and started to right things down. "Do you know anything about him? Or the 'rich kid' he's with?" Was Richard Greyson that rich kid?

"I don't know much, the rich kid always has shades and baggy clothes on. Only reason I know he's rich is cause he almost always foots the bill. Uh…Tonja would know more. She's always their waitress, but she's not here tonight."

"Do you know how I could reach Tonja?"

Randy shrugged, "I can't give you any info like that, but you can come back when she's working. She works this weekend, nights as usually." Rachael thanked him.

_November 7__th__  
Wayne Manor, Gotham_

The Team had been sent on a mission, halting the progress Robin was making on the laptop. The mission took longer than they had wanted, some scout work on an upcoming shipment that has a possible link between the Light and their unnamed partner. It was important work, Robin knew that, but he had a hard time concentrating on it none the less. His mind kept going back to Wally.

The boy had been gone nearly three weeks, and Robin keeps getting the impression from Batman and Flash that they're search isn't going well. It's taking a lot from the speedster, everyone can tell. His wife, if the news reports are anything to go by, isn't holding up much better.

Robin hasn't seen or heard how Wally's parents are handling things. He images not well.

Robin removes the mask and places the costume away as he makes his way up to his room. Once there, he takes caution to get out Wally's laptop. He logs in and begins where he left off.

Most of the information lead to the conclusion that Wally had using the technology for school work, that and FreeCell apparently. He went through the computer's history finding the files that Wally had been using recently and went through them first. It had all been school based documents. Wally's pictures were an assortment of funny photos downloaded from the internet and family photos that Wally had backed up to his computer. Robin made sure to inspect the family photos. There weren't many and most of them were of Wally with his aunt and uncle in Central. There was one of Wally's parents with himself when Wally was young, maybe five or six. The family was at the zoo; Wally looked really happy.

He moved on, opening up all the written documents instead of just the recent ones and began skimming through them. There he found an anomaly. The file had been named Trig Notes. Richard was almost positive before clicking on the document that Wally had never taken a trigonometry class. He _was_ certain when he opened the document. It was certainly not trig notes.

_Robin,_

_I figure if anyone found this dumb thing it would be you. Who else would look through something with trig in the name? Funny, huh? I thought it was. If somehow it's not you who found it well then none of this is gonna make sense and who ever this is might as well stop reading now. _

_Anyways, I'm guessing something happened and I'm not around. I don't why I'm not there but if there is anything that doesn't make sense about my disappearance, anything that you think is odd and that's why you're going through my stuff, then I have a few suggestions for you. _

_For starters have you checked Chicago? I love Philly cheese stakes. Still not funny? Alright, alright moving on. Seriously though, check Chicago's delis out. I might have gotten sick of things and took off there. I have a friend with a place out there. There's a lot of smog, but you get used to it. You always said I attract trouble, so maybe something happened while I was there. So Chicago, check it out. I mean it. If nothing else you'll like the food._

If you're going through my stuff because I can't come back, then just know it wasn't my choice. I would never leave you or the Team or Aunt Iris or Uncle Barry if I didn't have to. You guys mean the world to me. I mean it. I love you guys. And I'm so sorry._I know you've lost a lot, Rob. You never told me, but I can see the pain you carry sometimes. I know you've lost someone maybe more than one person. I figure it might suck not to have me around. I never meant to hurt you, or anyone else on the Team for that matter. I really do care about you guys. You're family and I'm sorry I left. _

___Tell everyone I love them for me.  
_

_Wally West_

Robin couldn't stop the tears. He couldn't and he didn't want to. Wally was gone, maybe forever...what if-what if this was it? What if Wally was never coming back? Just like Robin's parents. He was gone. Completely. What if...no! No. No. No. No. No. No. Robin refused. This couldn't be it. Wally was gone but he was coming back. Robin would find him. If it was the last thing he did; he would find his best friend. He had to. Robin couldn't lose Wally. He couldn't.

Robin couldn't handle not hearing Wally's loud laughter again. He couldn't handle not seeing Wally's goofy grin every again. He couldn't handle not sparring with Wally again. He couldn't handle never playing Call of Duty again with Wally again. He couldn't handle not sharing milkshakes at the diner in downtown Gotham again. He couldn't handle not having Wally as his best friend.

He couldn't and he wouldn't. Robin would find him.

Robin moved away from the laptop. If this was a mission, about this time Wally would have came up with a hair-brain idea that somehow actually tied together with everything else. More often than not it worked out. When everyone else is at a lost, count on Wally to have an idea. Even if he wasn't there to say it himself.

So, Chicago, eh? Robin rubbed away the tears.

* * *

**A/N::** What's in Chicago? Will it be useful in finding Wally? Rachael's close to finding out who Wally is, what will she do once she does? Do Barry and Bruce have any leads? What will the mentors do once they find that the Team found additional information? Are Wally's parents have any luck in finding a mercenary?

Sorry it took longer than usually to get this chapter up. I'm changing directions from my original plans so I'm trying to figure out exactly all the players and how to use them. Originally Wally's new team had a bigger play in things but we'll see now that I'm adding other elements. Next chapter you'll see some training from Wally before Chicago! Chicago will be where the game changes, so just hang on a few more chapters and then things will pick up.

Thank you for the thoughtful reviews! =D

Hopefully, you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll have the next one up within a week.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title: **A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89**  
Chapter Eight: **Following the Steps**  
Word Count: **2,183**  
Summary:** Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

**Recap: **After waking up with out his memory, Wally - I mean 74X is sold to Dr. King who has taken him to his research facility where there are a number of other patients that 74X will begin to work with. A reporter Rachael is looking into who Richard Greyson's mysterious friend is in order to get front page coverage Barry and Bruce search for the missing speedster. Doing their own investigation, the Team and Robin find Wally's second laptop where Robin has found a letter addressed to him on it.

* * *

_November 8__th__  
Training Yard, King Research Facility, Unknown Location_

While the schedule was restricting, 74X by the end of the week was starting to get it down.

Wake up, breakfast, and then training in the yard until lunch. Afterwards, the group separated for specialized training or course study depending on the day before an hour of free time in the lounge or courtyard and dinner. After dinner the group was expected to read for an hour in the lounge. Some days, XYZ assured him, they'd get the whole afternoon to themselves but so far King had not broken schedule. 74X was looking forward to an afternoon off.

The sun wasn't high leaving the air slightly cool still. Still, sweat drenched the five patients as they worked on their seventh try through the obstacle course designed by Dr. King. They had to get through the entire demented thing as one group without triggering any of the bells.

Harder than it sounds.

They had not yet succeeded and Dr. King had warned if they didn't finish it soon then they'd work through lunch. By the way the others got their third wind it was apparent that it was not an idle threat. 74X was starving he could only image that the others were just as famished.

However hard the training was though it did give some insight to the facility, it's owner, and his teammates.

SR3 said they would occasionally rustle some gangs but what kind of gangs have security systems like this? Sure, maybe the course was just about stealth but 74X knew training exercises. There was always more than one reason to do them. Exactly why he knew that, 74X tried to move past.

So maybe the bad guys they fought weren't as low class as gangs? Maybe King was planning something big. SR3 did say he thought the justice system was corrupt maybe he knew by whom.

Dr. Raymon King, himself, directed and watched their exercises with the help of a few other members of his staff but it was clear he wasn't just watching – he was calling the shots. Taking quite an interest in their little team so much so that 74X had to guess that they were the only team. Which made it easier for the facility to watch them; which meant that if they didn't want them to leave it was unlikely that they would. JQK was right, the only way out of here was to play along and pay off their apparent debt. Honestly, 74X didn't want to leave – here he could be a hero, if he understood correctly – but if his teammate made a break for it then he'd have her back. For some reason that just felt right. It felt like the right thing to do. These guys had his back and he'd have theirs.

74X gained the most information from his teammates though.

It was clear that while the team was a team it wasn't bond together at the core. It made the team obstacle course difficult but possible. They just had to figure out how everyone worked together. The others were obviously still testing the waters with him – some more than others.

For instant, 96P didn't seem to like him nor dislike. It was clear that 96P followed orders best and he'd help 74X only and only if doing so doesn't cause him to disobey any of those orders. Maybe the brute just needed some more time to get use to the new kid. 74X hasn't seen what powers or abilities the blonde patient seems to have at least if he has it wasn't noticeable.

Not like SR3's powers. It was hard not to notice. The leader was strong. Super strong. 74X wasn't sure just how strong but it was certainly a sight to see the lean, average looking guy toss a truck aside without any effort. 74X made a note not to get on the guy's bad side. So far he was pretty easy to get along with – as long as you didn't put the team in danger. The team came first which 74X could get behind.

Right after the team, for SR3, came XYZ's general health. The two by the sound of it had gone through a lot together and still they looked out for each other. At first, 74X had misunderstood when they had said they were lab rats. He had assumed they were born in a lab and thus had similar powers, but that wasn't right. No, they were born into a normal family and then inducted into the sciences. XYZ had the exact opposite powers of SR3. Instead of body, she had enhanced mind power.

To what degree she has telekinesis though, is unknown. Dr. King is working on finding her limits but for now she works with what she has. What she does know, though, she assures she knows completely. When he learned of her powers he had asked if she could go in his mind and find his lost memories. She looked sad, "JQK asked the same thing. I'm sorry, 74X, but I can't. I don't know enough. It's too dangerous. I could give you brain damage if I don't do it right. Getting into someone's mind…it's is very careful work." Seeing the look on her face, he was telling her not to worry about it before she even finished her explanation. He was, he tried to assure her, getting more and more used to the idea of moving on without the darn things.

The two got along well on and off the training field.

Surprisingly, 74X trained well with JQK as well. With her obvious distrust of the facility and sour attitude, 74X had expected her to be difficult to work with. He thought that maybe she wouldn't trust the team but she disproved that theory right away when on the first day of training she had turned back to help the team at the expense of the failing the job. She might not like the situation but she's dealing with what she has. For all she knows, her teammates are her only family after all.

Which is kind of where 74X is himself. He knows what a team is supposed to be and at the moment this is the only one he's got. He doesn't know who his family is but these guys are proving to be pretty comfortable to be around.

"Look out!" SR3 shouted as he stepped in besides 74X and caught a large boulder falling from the crane above. "Pay attention kid." He barked as he tossed the thing ahead of them making a bridge over the cavern that 74X had been instructed to inspect.

"I am." 74X shot back hastily as the five of them cross the boulder bridge towards the next obstacle. A large wall of rope to climb while dodging a machine that shot beanbags at them which by the way hurt a lot more than they should for fabric filled with beans.

_November 8__th__  
Private Study, King Research Facility, Unknown Location_

The two nurses and Dr. King have connected about twenty wires to his bare skin and order him to run. Slowly, they remind him. They want to study his limitations without his powers. So he runs all the while pushing back whatever it is that makes him feel so good.

They ask him questions as he runs on the treadmill. "Have you looked through the books in the lounge?"

"Yeah." He confirms, "Got a lot of them in there. All sorts of subjects."

King doesn't really seem to hear him. "What book was your favorite?"

"Understanding Physics by Jordan Keller." 74X answers his feet pounding with the rhythm of his speech.

"Interesting. Do you feel like you're moving forward?"

"I'm not moving anywhere. I'm on a treadmill." 74X answers with a grin. He couldn't help himself.

King might not be amused but the blond nurse behind him found it funny. At least someone appreciates his humor. "I mean, 74X, are you handling the fact that we are not focusing on recovering your memories?"

"I knew that." 74X shrugs his shoulders, "I think it's like you said before – for the best. It's better this way. It's not as painful. I'm tired of pain."

King arches an eyebrow. "Do you feel a lot of pain?" 74X shakes his head with his lips thin. Why had he said that? Something told him he hadn't meant the frustration surrounding his memories but what other pain was there? "Well, I'm glad you are moving past the pain of shattered memories and focusing on your recovery. It will make the process all that much easier."

The strain of running is starting to show. "One more question. What is 'the best'?"

Surprisingly 74X had no problem answering that. "The best is the right thing to do. Is helping and achieving a better life for one and all. I need to get back on my feet so that I can help others. Life isn't about yourself, you know? A measure of a man is in those that would stand behind him if asked."

_November 9__th__  
Wayne Manor, Gotham_

"I'm afraid neither of them are available for an interview, Miss Gonzales. Please, have a good day." Alfred hangs up the phone, his tone tight.

Bruce stands beside him filtering through the mail. "Something the matter, Alfred?"

"That's the third time in the last two days that the same reporter has called. She will not take no for an answer it seems." Bruce just hms in answer. He's not really listening, Alfred knows that. The poor man was thinking about his boy and the missing side kick, Kid Flash. Robin had a close friendship with the boy and since Wally's disappearance, Robin hadn't been out of his room much. Bruce, like Alfred, was worried.

_November 10__th__  
Training Yard, King Research Facility, Unknown Location_

King has assigned them a job.

They're to check out a Mark Shaw. Apparently, the guy is mixed up with some bad people. The kind of which hunt people down for a living. Totally not cool. King didn't say if the group Mark Shaw is working for has a name or not. As he says, it's not pertinent to the job just get Mark Shaw and bring him back.

November 10th

Nothing. Still nothing.

There was nothing on Wally's home computer or in his room at his parent's place expect for his wallet and phone which just makes it harder to find him. His teachers and classmates didn't seem to know anything and his friends were all at a lost. Not a single villain was claiming the missing teen. Nobody seems to know anything about Wally's disappearance and there didn't seem to be any clues that might help. The police had given up looking officially though several officers still looked into things due to their friendship with the CSI, Barry Allen, but still they turned up nothing.

Barry Allen was at a lost.

And to make matters worse, he was pretty sure that Bruce was just as turned around as he was.

It just didn't make sense. If Wally had just left then he would have can back by now or made contact with someone. If Wally had been taken by a normal person then they didn't have a chance of keeping the kid. And if Wally had been taken by a super villain then why was no one taking credit?

They had looked into Cadmus and other known facilities that might keep the kidnapping quiet but that all lead to a dead end too.

All of which was dragging Barry to a terrible conclusion. One that he simply couldn't face.

He moved past Bruce in the room and began to look through the timeline they had made. Bruce said nothing; he saw the look of despair wrapping around his friend but he also knew the only thing that could help the man was finding his nephew.

"Batman?" Robin's voice broke through the earpiece.

Bruce moved further away from Barry, "Yes, Robin?"

"Wally had a second laptop at the base; I searched through it – "

"When did you find it?" Robin didn't miss the tone. It clearly was a warning, but Robin ignored it. Priorities. Robin could handle the consequences later.

"He left a note on it. It might be nothing but in it he points to Chicago as a place that might hold some answers. The team and I are going to look into it."

"Chicago?"

"Yeah, I'll let you know how it goes."

When the line goes dead, Bruce finds Barry looking at him for answers. "The Team has a lead concerning Wally in Chicago."

* * *

**A/N**: Chicago? What's there? And who is Mark that Wally is going after?

This probably has few errors, I didn't get to read through it as closely as the others but I wanted to get it up today since I have research paper due Friday. I want to spend the rest of the week working on that. The Chicago chapter will be next and it will be a week or so before I get it up. Thanks for everything!


End file.
